The First Times
by IrethAncalime3791
Summary: Roy and Gracia slowly grow closer after Maes is dead.
1. Chapter 1

**The First Times**

_Disclaimer_: I don't own the characters or the anime _Fullmetal Alchemist_.

That First Visit

The door opened abruptly, bringing Roy from his thoughts of the past, and the very different present. He forgot all about his resentment for Hawkeye insisting that he get over whatever block was in front of him and check up on his late best friend's wife. Gracia Hughes appeared as the door was pulled back, and as Roy looked up to meet her eyes with a courteous smile and nod, a very glad smile shaped her lips. She was happy to see him.

He was happy to see Gracia too. He hadn't realized that a small reconnection would actually carry some joy…Roy had rather imagined that it would be painful, and that the absense of Maes would be too…present, really. He had thought that Gracia would look more sad and be further from healing. Clearly, she was healing just fine.

"Colonel Mustang, what a pleasure to see you," she greeted warmly.

"I apologize for stopping by unannounced," he returned lamely. He knew there was no need to apologize.

He couldn't stay long. He couldn't even step inside. He had to get to headquarters, and Hawkeye was waiting in the car. Roy had also achieved his purpose and seen that Gracia was doing alright. The pain was still there of course. She had loved Maes, and he would always be gone. Elysia would still miss her daddy as well, and wake up from nightmares crying for him sometimes. But they would continue to live life.

As Roy walked back down the sidewalk from the front door, he turned back to give a final nod of farewell and a final smile.

He decided that he would visit again, just to check up on Gracia.


	2. Chapter 2

**The First Times**

_Disclaimer_: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

That First Touch

"I was just fixing some lemonade with Elysia, would you like some?"

Roy stood beside the kitchen table with a polite smile.

"I'm fine, thank you," he declined.

"Are you sure?" Gracia turned back from the counter and smiled at him. "I was teaching her, and I think she'd like to hear that her first try was a success."

She looked so happy…Her eyes were glittering. They weren't quite as green as Maes's eyes, tinted by just a little grey. They were still enchanting though, especially when she smiled liked that. Roy wondered at how she could smile so beautifully when she had lost someone so dear to her.

"Well, alright." She had convinced him.

Still smiling, she turned her head again and poured two glasses.

"Go ahead and sit down, Colonel."

"Just Roy, please." He did so.

"Alright," she answered. She turned around and sat down across from him, handing him the glass. He reached out to take it, and his finger brushed hers.

Gracia pulled her hand away. Her smile faded as she turned to look at Elysia in thought. The four-year-old girl was busy on the floor drawing, surrounded by paper, crayons, and a few stuffed animals. Roy glanced at her as well. Elysia was still shy around him, but as long as she was busy with her own activities and off in her own little world she could be in the same room with him.

The rim of the glass touched his lips as the silence continued, and Roy sipped the lemonade in thought. It tasted perfect.

"How is she?" he asked quietly.

Gracia turned, looking down while still in thought. There was no smile. Roy wondered if he had asked too soon, but he kept quiet about it and let Gracia say what she wanted to. Gracia ran a thumb around the rim of her glass silently. Moments passed and passed and Roy waited, listening to Elysia talk to her stuffed animals. It was a while before Gracia answered.

"She needs her dad."

The words brought Roy's gaze away from the small girl on the other side of the room to the woman sitting across from him. He studied her, considering the mournful expression and downward cast eyes. Gracia then looked up and sipped the lemonade.

"She had a nightmare a couple nights ago. I got up and went to her room, and she hugged me and cried. She said, 'I want Daddy.'" Gracia stopped and took another sip to settle the lump in her throat. Roy watched her, hurting for her. It was too plain to see that Gracia needed Maes as well.

"I suppose it's awful to say…but he was embarrassing sometimes." Gracia gave a short laugh. "The way he would just show me off like I was the greatest thing…" She smiled again and met Roy's eyes for a brief moment, and he smiled weakly back. Hers faded and she looked back at Elysia, who was now singing a song with her stuffed animals.

"…When I was barefoot and pregnant, he seemed even worse. He called me about ten times a day, saying I was a lovely angel, or something of the sort," Gracia said, laughing again.

"I believe 'radiant' was the word he used," Roy said, thinking. She glanced at him, and he smiled. "For every time he called you, he must have called me at least twice."

They laughed and drank more lemonade, and they discussed more memories. It was refreshing, being able to remember and talk freely about someone they would always miss. It was something they shared.

"He called me all the time to tell me all those 'firsts' of Elysia's," Roy mentioned. "Her first word—I know he had to have spent hours getting her say 'da-da,' knowing him." Gracia smiled and nodded. "Her first step, her first walk in the room, her first walk through the house, her first walk down the street, the first complete sentence she spoke, the first song she sang, her first day out of the high chair, her first night out of the crib…" Roy chuckled and shook his head. "And that's not even the half of it."

"He did get a little tiring," Gracia said, sighing as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Yeah…" Roy agreed. He bounced his knee lightly with the empty glass set on top. "I was often impatient when he called to ramble on about you two."

Gracia smiled understandingly.

"You're a busy man, and a hardworker. He knew that."

"Yeah…" Roy gazed down, recalling another memory. "But I was unnecessarily irritable, including—" he paused abruptly and glanced over at Gracia, worried that he was getting too close to the center of the subject. She looked at him, listening, giving no signal to stop. "…The last time we spoke," he said. He meant for that to be the end.

Roy looked away and sighed. Gracia didn't need for him to lay his regrets on her. She probably had enough of her own. She had a heavy load to carry, and he had no intention of adding to it. He should be listening to her instead.

"Roy…" Gracia murmured, looking down. He turned back to her, feeling that he knew what she was about to ask, and he was right. "Has Investigation found anything that you're aware of?"

He gazed at her, thinking over what he had to tell her and why. He hated it, he wanted to be as open with her as they had been just a couple of minutes before.

"The very last time he called me, I was on my way to Central. But apparently…" He paused, but she gazed straight at him, as if to challenge him, to tell him that she could take it. "…That was just before it happened." He swallowed and looked down, then met her gaze again. "Please, understand…that what I know more than that, I can't say. I won't make you a potential target." They stared at each other for a few moments, then Roy turned to study Elysia. Her drawings were now scattered, and she was showing one to one of her stuffed silent playmates. Roy studied her briefly, then turned back to Gracia, meeting her eyes with confidence. "And I know that's what Maes would want."

Gracia's eyes fell. She had known that and expected it. She clearly hated being kept in the dark though.

"Maes told me about the Elrics," she said softly. "Why Edward and Alphonse are like that." Roy listened, watching her face. "I know what they did is forbidden, and that they suffer terrible consequences for it…"

Gracia stood, picked up her glass from the table, and took it to the kitchen sink. She slowly laid it there, then turned back to Roy, still not looking at him.

"But I can see why they did it," she said.

Roy understood, and he felt the same way.


End file.
